Missing Women Inquiry called a ‘lost opportunity’ for reconciliation

Kevin Griffin, Vancouver Sun11.19.2012

Robert Pickton interrogation Jan. 19, 2000 by RCMP Constables Ruth Yurkiw and John Cater. It shows serial killer Robert Pickton with his friend, Gina Houston, who often interrupts and answers questions for Pickton.

Related

VANCOUVER -- The Missing Women Inquiry was a missed opportunity for reconciliation because it didn’t thoroughly communicate with poor and marginalized women in the Downtown Eastside, says one of the authors of a report released Monday.

Darcie Bennett, campaigns director for the Pivot Legal Society, said that in the earliest stages, when the terms of reference were being established for the inquiry into how police handled missing-women cases in the Downtown Eastside, the provincial government should have gone into the communities to establish a dialogue.

“We feel that this whole process has been a missed opportunity for reconciliation for getting some stories and voices that have been excluded from the discussion into the public record and rebuilding relationships and trust,” Bennett said. “We feel that the opportunity has been lost.”

Called Blueprint for An Inquiry: Learning from the Failures of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, the report contains 23 recommendations meant to improve all future public inquiries, but especially those involving aboriginal women, sex workers and other marginalized people.

“We wanted to show that it’s not only possible to do better,” Bennett said in a phone interview. “It was well within the capacity of this commission and this government to do a better job.”

The report comes two weeks before the Missing Women Inquiry commission’s report is scheduled to be released Nov. 30.

Wally Oppal, a former provincial attorney general, was appointed head of the commission to examine how police investigated cases of women reported missing from the DTES between Jan. 23, 1997 and Feb. 5, 2002.

In 2007, Robert (Willie) Pickton was convicted of the second-degree murder of six of those missing women. He was sentenced to life in prison.

The commission was mired in controversy even before hearings began in October 2011. More than a dozen organizations representing aboriginal and women’s groups decided not to appear before the commission because of the provincial government’s refusal to pay for their legal representation. Pivot was one of the groups that pulled out of participating in the commission.

Blueprint for an Inquiry was written by Pivot, the BC Civil Liberties Association and the West Coast Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund.

It notes there was a great disparity in legal resources available to the different interests represented at the hearings.

There were at least 25 lawyers working for police and government and nine for the commission. Two commission-funded lawyers represented the families. Another two, called independent counsel, were hired by the commission to represent sex workers, women’s groups and DTES organizations.

Bennett said the lack of transparency and accountability in the way money was spent for legal representation was “really disappointing.

“When you have 25 lawyers on the other side, it’s really challenging to tell a woman or service provider that they should go and submit to cross-examination,” she said.

The groups’ report said the Missing Women Inquiry excluded the voices of individuals and communities it should have worked hardest to include — those who were most affected by the Pickton murders.

“In the most disappointing fashion, the province and the commission repeated the very mistakes that allowed Pickton to operate with impunity for so many years – the voices of marginalized women and their supporters were ignored,” the Blueprint for an Inquiry said.

“Future public inquiries, particularly those that work with marginalized communities, must learn from the errors of the Missing Women Inquiry, and work to implement better practices to ensure they can succeed in their search for truth and reconciliation.”

Recommendations include:

• The consultation process should include education for commission staff to help them understand culturally appropriate and effective ways to gather evidence and conduct itself.

• Compensation for commissioners of inquiries should be commensurate with judges’ salaries and commission counsel salaries shouldn’t exceed that of Crown counsel.

• Anyone whose conduct is being investigated should have “an extremely limited role in influencing the development of the terms of reference.”

• When a public inquiry investigates the police in any way, “current or former members of the police should not be hired to organize or coordinate the inquiry, or be retained to prepare supposedly ‘independent’ reviews of the evidence to be heard at the inquiry.”

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Share

Missing Women Inquiry called a ‘lost opportunity’ for reconciliation

Video

Today's News

Best of Postmedia

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Ignore the diversions in the United States: athletes kneeling or standing during the national anthem; Republicans flailing and failing again on health care; a kick-boxing creationist possibly becoming senator from Alabama. Calamity looms elsewhere. We are hurtling toward war with North Korea. It may be as early as next month. […]

It wasn’t in the middle of a farmer’s muddy field or deep in the boreal forest where the Canadian oilsands truly struck pay dirt. It was inside Fort McMurray’s recreation centre. More than 1,400 oilpatch workers, corporate executives, provincial leaders and the country’s prime minister assembled 21 years ago in northern Alberta to grasp a […]

Google’s powerful search engine is defeating some court-ordered publication bans in Canada and undermining efforts to protect young offenders and victims. Computer experts believe it’s an unintended, “mind-boggling” consequence of Google search algorithms. In six high-profile cases documented by the Citizen, searching the name of a young offender or victim online pointed to media coverage […]

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.